Independent game studio

Old souls.
New tools.
Strange routes and fallen worlds.

Sabnock Works on games, roleplaying material, and short fiction for people who still keep a map folded in their pocket.

Explore the works
Sabnock Works brass maker's seal

Scroll for the cabinet of curious things

The works

Three worlds in progress.

Each begins with a different kind of map.

01

Dark fantasy roleplaying game

Lathmar: The Fallen Depths

A living underworld of bargains, old wounds, and cities built over things that never truly died. Lathmar is a roleplaying game about entering the dark with a lantern, a party, and no certainty of return.

Open the case
From the workshop archive
02

A Chaos remake in 8-bit spirit

War of the Wizards

A small screen. A hostile kingdom. A duel of summoners where one good spell can change the whole map. War of the Wizards revisits old-school tactical fantasy with sharp pixels and crooked magic.

Open the case
From the workshop archive
03

Historical expedition strategy

Routes of Africa

Plan a scientific expedition through nineteenth-century North and Central Africa. Follow routes, negotiate, listen, document, and return with records that can be tested. The world is not unknown; it is only missing from one map.

Open the expedition
In development / Teaser available
The Tomb of the First Emperor tabletop material cover

The open drawer

Free tabletop material.

Rules fragments, encounter tools, odd creatures, and gameable places for the tables that keep going long after midnight. Built to be lifted, marked up, and made your own.

Latest release: The Tomb of the First Emperor

Visit the material archive
Cover of The Price of a Crown by Michael Kahler

From the loose pages

Free short stories.

Brief descents into other rooms: ruined courts, uncertain roads, people who have found the wrong door, and the price they pay for opening it.

Now in the archive: The Tithe of Small Despairs, The Rat King, and The Price of a Crown

Visit the story archive
Cover of Ancient Mega Dungeons by Sabnock Works

From the workshop papers

Essays & Articles.

Long-form pieces on myth, games, and the old ideas that still shape a good story. Kept separately from the fiction archive, with complete reading editions for those who want to go further.

Now in the archive: Mythic Spears and Ancient Mega Dungeons

Visit the essay archive